Jamaica’s double Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will look to capture an unprecedented world 100 metres treble in Beijing Monday.
The pint-sized sprinter clocked the joint-fastest time of 10.88 seconds with American Tori Bowie after a false start in her heat at Bird’s Nest stadium Sunday.
“I was able to refocus after the false start, to focus on what is important,” said Fraser-Pryce, whose long hair was bright green, braided and boasted a garland of yellow flowers.
“Winning a third world title? Well every championship is different, this is a new championship. Today is just about getting through the rounds.”
Meanwhile, France’s Renaud Lavillenie, the Olympic champion and world record holder, is bidding to end his World Championship hoodoo in the men’s pole vault and Colombian Caterine Ibarguen will be the one to beat in the women’s triple jump.
The women’s 10,000 metres – featuring UAE’s reigning Asian champion Alia Saeed – and the men’s 3,000m steeplechase provide the hors d’oeuvre to Fraser-Pryce’s title quest under the floodlights at the cavernous arena where she stormed to Olympic gold in 2008.
The 28-year-old Jamaican has rediscovered her sharpness after a disappointing 2014 by her impeccable standards, winning Diamond League races in Eugene, Paris and Stockholm and posting the year’s fastest time of 10.74s.
However, a formidable American threat lurks should Fraser-Pryce fail to add to the world titles she won in 2009 and 2013.
Tori Bowie spearheads the American challenge after clocking 10.81 to win the national title earlier this year, while English Gardner will also be in the hunt having registered the second quickest time this year at 10.79.
Lavillenie’s previous world challenges in the pole vault ended in disappointment in Berlin, Daegu and Moscow but he has come back strongly this season after a shoulder injury, recording a personal-best outdoor mark of 6.05m in Eugene.
